Nigeria Tributes have poured in after Officer Tolulope Arotile, Nigeria’s first female combat helicopter pilot was killed in a freak car accident Tuesday.
Arotile, 24, died of head injuries sustained after a former school friend accidentally reversed into her while she was trying to greet her, at the Kaduna Air Force Base, the air force said in a statement.
President Muhammadu Buhari said he received the news with “deep pain” and sent condolences to her family and colleagues, his aide said in a statement.
“The President salutes Arotile’s bravery in the field to protect the country from onslaught of bandits and terrorists, assuring that her memory will be indelible, and her efforts remembered,” the statement read.
Officer Arotile, went to Mammy market to print some credentials and was knocked down on her way back to her quarters. A source said Arotile “a sustained a severe head injury with massive haemorrhage.”
“A panel has been set up to investigate the circumstances that led to her death,” another source told The Guardian.
Daramola recently completed a program at the Starlite International Training Academy, South Africa. She died less than a year after she was decorated as the first female combatant helicopter pilot.
The Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Siddique Abubakar, on Wednesday also paid tribute to her, describing described Arotile as a disciplined, intelligent and courageous officer whose loss is irreparable for the force.
Born on 13 December 1995 to the family of Mr and Mrs Akintunde Arotile in Kaduna, Arotile, hails from Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State. She attended Air Force Primary and Secondary School before attending the Nigerian Defense Academy.
She was commissioned into the Nigerian Air Force as a Pilot Officer on 16 September 2017 and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the Nigerian Defence Academy.
Arotile was winged as the first-ever female combat helicopter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force on 15 October 2019, after completing her flying training in SA, holds a commercial pilot license & underwent tactical flying training on the August.
.
.
Cc: @amplifyafrica
Comments
0 comments
